Mal and Ben ~ Parenthood

Learning everything there is to know

One day, as to be expected, there were only 1 month left. Mal and Ben were both finished with school, and the next years student would start in a few weeks.

For Evie that meant she was getting more serious with Evie's 4 hearts, Jay was focusing on his sport, Carlos would begin on a new school to go further, and for Mal and Ben, they would do nothing except raising their child, and Ben doing his work.

Mal started being more confident, in the whole situation, and even know Carlos was going away, Evie and Jay were still there, and Evie promised never to go anywhere.

She was happy to be out of school, before getting her child, so she wouldn't get stressed, which was the least thing she wanted to happen. But still she felt a pressure to be more perfect. She was so scared of doing something wrong, or turn her child Evil. Which had began to stress her out a little, and Ben was noticing that something was wrong.

Mal was in the library, reading a book, Ben was working, and she wanted to be somewhere quiet.

But the silence was interrupted by Ben. He placed his hands on her shoulders, and looked down at her book.

"What are you reading?" he asked.

Mal turned the book around, and Ben saw she was reading another book about raising kids.

"Don't you think you already know everything there is to know?" Ben teased, but Mal didn't really find it funny.

"No, I need to know everything. Ben I can't mess this up, I can't just run away this time, if something goes wrong," she protested, almost yelling.

"Okay Mal, calm down," he said moving to her side.

She tried to ignore him, and returned to her book. But Ben pulled it out of her hands.
"What about we do something," Ben said, "Together."

Mal glared at him when he took the book from her, "Don't you need to work?"

"No, I'm taking a break," he said, making her stand up.

"Ben... I don't have time," she tried.

"Yes you have," he said, and dragged her with him.
-

Later on Ben had to return to his work, so Mal headed for their room, that they now shared. She walked into the baby's room. Evie had really made it beautiful. She closed the door, and sat against it. She imagined what it would be like, when someone actually would be living in there. She found herself crying, not a lot, but just a few tears. She didn't know if it was because she was happy or sad, or something in between. She just knew she couldn't control her feelings right now.

She heard someone entering the room behind the closed door.

"Mal? Are you here?" she heard Belle's voice say.

"I'm in her," she called, and quickly stood up, and wiped away her tears.

Almost right after, Belle entered the room. She looked at Mal, and could see that she'd been crying. She walked over and hugged her. "What happened?" she asked.

Mal pulled away from her, and looked around the room. "Nothing," she said. But Belle just glared at her.

Mal sighed, "I can't make any mistakes. I need to be perfect again. And we both know how that turned out last time. But I can't just run away this time."

"Mal," Belle smiled, "You don't need to be perfect. No parent is perfect. If you just knew how many mistakes Adam and I did raising Ben, and he turned out pretty great anyway, didn't he?"

Mal smiled, "Yeah he did."

"And yeah it's true, you can't run away. You will have to face your troubles this time.
But last time you were alone, now you're not. You're far from alone. And you know that. So tell me what is really wrong."

Mal looked surprised, "What?"

"Mal I know you're not used to someone actually caring about you, and seeing through you, but I do. And I know every time you're hiding something. And you're hiding something right now."

Mal looked at the ground. "I'm afraid my mom will come back and... you know... I'm afraid I can't keep it safe," she said, placing her hands on her stomach.

Belle looked at her, suddenly full of worry, "I can't take that fear away from you. And I can't say that it will never happen, because I don't know that. But I can only tell you again, that you are not alone."

"But what if she takes it away from me?" Mal asked, suddenly crying a lot more.

Belle hugged her, "Then we'll get it back. Hey look... we all won against one of the villains once. If you look back, they almost never won. So if we all stick together against them... I think our chances to win are pretty big."

Mal smiled, "Yeah you're right."

"Mal where are you?" they heard Ben call from the other side of the door.

"In here Ben!" Mal called.

"Hey, you're crying," he said when he saw her, "What happened?"

Mal dried her eyes, "Nothing," she said and kissed him, before placing herself in his arms.

"Mom?" he asked, looking at her, expecting to get an answer.

"Girl talk," she said, and laughed. Mal laughed too, and turned to look at Ben again.

"Yeah," she said, "Believe it or not, you don't always need to know everything."

Ben glared at her, "Like I even wanna know."

"Oh you so do," Mal teased.

"Bet I don't" he protested, dragging her closer to him, and kissed her. That kind of gave Belle the idea that it was time to leave.

Mal pulled away smiling, "You know what?"

"What?" Ben asked.

"I think we're going to be great parents."

Ben smiled, "Yeah, I think so too."
-

Mal almost stopped worrying, until the due date was only 1 week away.

Mal was at the doctor, "Have are you feeling?" the doctor asked, with a way to caring voice for Mal to handle at the moment.

"I'm fine," she said a little too loudly, with her eyes turning green.

The doctor backed away from her, "You're not turning into a dragon are you?" she asked looking scared.

"You're scared of me?" Mal asked, and ran out the door.

What she hoped, but didn't expect, was that she could get right home and go to bed. But Ben never ignored her storming through the door with green eyes.

"Mal!" Ben said, "What happened. Hey, calm down."

"I'm calm," Mal protested, but figured Ben wouldn't buy that, "How can the doctor be scared of me? Like she is the doctor..."

"Mal tell me exactly what happened," Ben said, having a hard time getting what she said.

Mal sighed, "I lost my temper, and my eyes  turned green... and then the doctor backed away from me, asking if I was about to turn into a dragon..."

"Really? I'm so sorry Mal. I bet that didn't really make you feel better," Ben said, hugging her.

She finally calmed down, "How do you think our child will react if I suddenly turn into a dragon?" she asked, with her head buried in his shoulder.

Ben thought about it for a second, "My mom is cool," he said.

Mal hitted him in the chest, "Ben!"

"What? You are cool. I love you."

"I love you too," she said, "And because we both love each other so much, you will make sure I get a new doctor. She's not gonna be there when I give birth to our child."

Ben laughed, and kissed her, "I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you," she smiled.